The Blink of an Eye
by RottenRogue7
Summary: It isn't what happened or what is, Rex, it is what could be.
1. Chapter 1

"We are here, downtown where an EVO has taken to knocking over as many stores as possible," The news reporter spoke into her microphone. The camera pan shifted the view from the stunning blond with ice blue eyes to the hideous gelatinous blob of an EVO that was running amok behind her. People scrambled towards them, a few of the hit the camera, causing the view to shake and then steady a couple times, but miraculously most had missed them completely.

The EVO, with it's seven legs (three of either side of its fat body and then one jutting out from its butt) was perched on top of a rubble pile that had once been a small convenience store and news stand. It hauled brick and metal into its mouth and let out a loud, terrifying roar into the sky. It had one red eye set into the middle of its drooling, toothy face and when it reared towards the camera and reporter everything seemed to stand still for the unfortunates caught up in getting the story.

The camera man turned the camera back to his pretty co-worker, giving the public a look at her terrified face. Her eyes were the size of dinner place and her mouth hung open in shock. She slowly rose the microphone to her red lips and spoke slowly, "We seem to have attracted it's attention…" she swallowed heavily and looked over the camera towards its holder and forgot all about the fact that she was broadcasting live all over the city, "Jimmy. We need to get the fuck out of here!"

The camera nodded and a dismembered voice appeared, "Alright," the man breathed, "All right, we will just slowly back away. Okay?"

She nodded.

The camera turned back towards the EVO who had seemed to get closer to them. It's entire body was facing them now, not just the head, and one of it's legs coiled around a car. It deliberately moved, despite it's pea-brain it moved with such purpose. Once it was only twenty feet away, it reared up on its hind legs and let out a howl.

Both the reporter and the cameraman did the same without realizing. The bug-looking EVO charged at his prey. The camera was dropped and they were running, Jimmy the cameraman grabbed hold of the reporter woman and was dragging her over rubble. "LOSE THE SHOES!" he screamed at her as the tried to run but were slowed because he had to keep steadying her when she fell.

She yanked her hand away, causing them both to stop, and shifted her weight to one side, placing one manicured hand on her hip, "These are Vitoni's." The bug yowled again, jaws snapping and the clacking of it's claws on the asphalt seemed to put things into perspective for the reporter. "Okay! OKAY!" she kicked the shoes off and ran, the cameraman behind her, now having trouble keeping up.

They leaping and bounding over fiery rubble piles and, to the reporter's nightmare, bodies. Her suit, once a designer trend setting number, now looked like a hobo's rag cloth and although she was pissed, she was thankful that the slits up the sides allowed her to use her slender, fit legs to her advantage. She was track runner in high school, this was cake for her without heels.

The News Station field van was a mere block away after some time and a feeling of relief washed over her. They were going to make it. The next time Phil the producer suggest she do more field work, she would slap him so hard in the face her acrylic nails will be embedded in his skin. Half a block away and…

"OOF!" Jimmy went down hard.

The reporter stopped on a dime and started to head back for her partner when the bug came crashing through the side of a building in front of her. The flying chucks of cement and dry wall knocked her over, forcing her away from the fallen cameraman, "Jimmy!" she called out, trying to get to her feet but finding that her right leg was trapped between a large slab of concrete and a tipped car, "Jimmy, get up!"

His leg was bleeding and his right eye had blood dribbling into it. Jimmy couldn't tell how far away his partner was but he could see that the EVO was now hovering over him. He tried to scoot away but, with his bum leg and failed depth perception, he was too slow and it merely strode behind him, teeth and mandibles clacking like tap shoes on a hardwood floor only a few feet above him. The EVO's breath was horrendous, like rotten meat mixed week old fish. A drop of it's drool landed next to his head and the tar beside him began to bubble. Acid. There was no reason to pretend to be tough now, he was sure he was going to die. "Help! Oh my god, HELP ME!"

"Did somebody call for me?"

The bug EVO was suddenly sent flying backwards by a rather large orange, silver and black metal hand. Attached to that hand, Rex, providence's EVO fighting machine. Jimmy the camera man could not have been more thankful.

The bug crashed into a building that was somehow still standing through it all and the entire thing came down on it, not that two tons of brick would stop it but, it would definitely slow it down. Rex shifted his hand back to normal and went to help the man before him. "Hey, man, lets get you up and out of here." Jimmy extended his hand and Rex hoisted him up, draping the man's arm over his shoulders and then wrapping one of his arms around Jimmy's waist to steady him. The walked and limped over to the reported and Rex shifted his free hand into a metal hammer to push the slab off of her. "Nancy, I'm a big fan!" he said as he picked her up and brought her to her feet. She only stared, dumbfounded.

"Thanks," she managed to get out.

Behind them the EVO burst from its burial site with a mighty howl, spiny legs raised to the sky. Rex took a moment to look before his legs morphed into his hover cycle. "Quick! Get on!" Jimmy help his lovely reporter onto the back of Rex's bike and then climbed on himself. "Everyone set?" Rex questioned. Two shaky nods gave him the green light to put on his goggles and go.

The bug was on them in seconds, forcing Rex to rev his engines harder. He bobbed and weaved through the street littered with deserted cars, shattered brick piles, wood beams, glass and metal pipes. Rex rounded a corner where the Providence troops were waiting. A huge tank sat behind a row of black and white clad weapon wielders with full helmets on, all of their guns trained on the EVO snapping at the tail of Rex's bike. A providence trooper in the front, who's uniform had a badge on it made a motion with his left hand, keeping his right on the trigger, "Let's bring it down boys!" he yelled, the southern twang noticeable.

Just as Rex had zoomed into the safety of the providence perimeter, the troops unleashed a racket of fire onto the EVO that made a it cease it's attack on Rex and redirect it's attention to finding somewhere safe. Providence troops had other ideas. Once the bug started to run they followed it, setting their guns on full blast, the thing had to be stopped.

Rex watched as a cluster of white and black armored suits went after the EVO. He turned to the man and woman on the back of his bike and told them to brace themselves as he returned to his normal legged self. Jimmy helped Nancy off first before getting himself off the hover bike. Rex stretched his arms high over his head and then returned his goggles to their sitting position on his head, "You guys just wait here, a medic will be right with you, okay?"

The man and woman just nodded deftly.

Rex smiled, winked at the woman and then in the blink of an eye transformed his legs into two giant robot legs and hopped off towards where the commotion was.

The EVO had headed for a part of town that he hadn't already destroyed and was in the middle of evacuation. Rex had to go back to his normal status just to get around, keeping his robot legs on would most likely result in him squishing more than a few people. As he ran towards the EVO and providence soldiers he found himself fighting a torrent of screaming people. A few had even knocked him off balance. In the distance he could see the countless laser beams of providence weaponry attacking the bug, it's response was to wail and then stab at the ground. Rex hoped that all of the soldiers who had gone after it were still alive. Then the bug turned it's back to it's attackers and dove head first into the asphalt below him.

Rex panicked, he didn't know it could drill into the earth. Finally he stopped trying to claw his way through the masses of people and stood still a thought had just popped into his head and he felt stupid for not thinking of it before. He activated his robot legs, tripping at least nine people in mid stride, hopped into the air and then quickly shifted into flying mode. Two huge fans appeared on either side of his body and he flew off towards the scene.

A arrived just as the EVO had submerged its entire disgustingly slimy body underground and the providence troops were getting out their grappling hooks to prepare to go after it. Rex jumped to the front lines where the badged soldier was, "Let me go with you!"

The soldier said nothing but he nodded and waved five more people over, all of them with their grappling hooks in hand, "You five come with me," he spoke urgently to them and then yelled to the rest of his team on standby, "If we don't come back out in seven minutes, send in the next team!"

"YES SIR!" came a chorus of answers.

The soldier then gave Rex a nod that meant to go ahead and Rex did, using his flying mode to levitate him down. He turned on the lights built into his propellers and then flew deeper into the cavern. Moments later, five beams of light shone down on him and then an equal number of bodies seem to rain down next to him. Once they caught up to Rex they paced him down the long and slightly damp with slime, perfectly rounded hold until the reached the bottom.

"Ugh!" Rex could be heard over the clatter of grappling hooks being retracted, "This thing is going to owe me a new pair of boots when this is done."

Nobody laughed. The leader of the group gave a signal to the five behind him and they all got to one knee and trained their guns to the darkness ahead of them. In silence the man removed a small orb from his belt and threw it. "5…" he began the count down, "4… 3…2…1"

A blinding pale blue light erupted from the hole and Rex found himself dragging his goggles back down over his eyes. The light was greeted with a hideous sound and then the smell of burning flesh. Suddenly the quiet hole was awakened with the sound of clacking bug EVO feet and Rex readied himself for a quick and painless de-EVO-lution. He flew up, so he could easily drop down onto the bug once it came through the hole and watched at the troops distracted it. Landing on such a slimy and bumpy surface was hard but as a last ditch effort, Rex placed his hand on it and concentrated.

A bright blue circuit board seemed to stretch across the EVO's entire body and then POOF, it was gone and, in its place, a beautiful young lady appeared and slumped to the ground like a sack of dropped potatoes. Rex hovered over for a moment and examined her dirty face. She was breathing, that's all he needed to know.

"Let's get her out of here!" the head officer yelled to others, his southern accented voice echoing throughout the chamber. He then turned to Rex and patted the boy on his shoulder, "Nice work as usual, Rex."

The hero nodded his thanks.

One of the soldiers came to their commanding officer's side and spoke clearly, with a voice that Rex both recognized and couldn't believe was there as he hadn't heard it in so long, "Commander," the soldier said with a fault in clarity despite the helmet, "The medic van is at the edge of the crater. The rest of the team awaits your orders."

"Right," he stated, "Make sure everything is cleansed down here and that everyone makes it out. I'll go up with Johnson and Peters with the girl." And then he walked off.

The soldier he was talking to then shouldered the large gun they were carrying and pulled off the helmet, letting black tresses of hair fall passed their shoulders to the middle of their back. The soldier exhaled a large and long sigh, looking around with dark brown eyes set into a angular eye sockets. "Kenwyn?" Rex said, shocked.

She put her hands on her narrow waist and turned around to face him, "Hey, Rex," she said with a smirk, "Good job out there." They echanged glanced for only a second longer before she turned to the rest of her team and began barking orders, "All right! Let's get this place cleaned up!"

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><p><strong>And so you have read it. Hope you liked it, hope you come back for more! Reviews are always lovely!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay, guys! Back on. Updates on this story every Saturday! Updates on my KND story on every Sunday and updates on the AmDrag story, every wednesday!**

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><p>Rex sat in his Providence room, Bobo perched on top of a shelf nearby with a bag of chips in his hand. The chimp shoveled handfuls of BBQ lays into his mouth while Rex stared hard at the manila folder in his gloved hand. The outside read, "Private and Urgent," so Rex took no time in cracking it open.<p>

From what he gathered from the large words and ridiculously large stack of papers it was a briefing for a mission. What he did not understand, however, is why it continued to refer to this mysterious "party B." He was used to being referred to as "Party A," but that made no sense to him. His partner was usually Bobo or, in dire cases, Six, and they never got their own referendum name in his briefs or de-briefs. Then it clicked, was he getting a different partner? That would be highly unlikely and unfortunate seeing as he did not have the best of luck when having to worry about someone without powers.

He turned to Bobo, "Who do you think it is?"

"Kenwyn."

Rex sat up right, "No seriously."

Bobo stared at his fellow nanite saturated friend and gave a chuckle. The chimp then hopped off his shelf and landed on the floor with a crinkle and a thump, "I bet you don't even know what she's been doing for the last few years, do ya, Rex."

Rex shrugged and then flung the folder from where he sat over to his desk across the room. He put his hands behind his head and allowed himself to fall backwards onto the pillows that nested his bed, "Not really," he told him pal truthfully, "Figured she was off somewhere overachieving or something. You know, normal Kenwyn smarty pants stuff."

"Close," Bobo swung himself up next to Rex and sat on the boys stomach, ignoring the heaving sound that was made in reference to the pounds he had put on. He was a monkey, not a super model. "Kenwyn was sent overseas to help develop Providence International Headquarters. They needed someone experienced, tactile and responsible to help train the new recruits. She went to China, France, Istanbul, South America… pretty much any country with a hot spot for EVO's. While there she received several medals for her valor, service, and bravery from foreign dignitaries and military organizations for her work in Providence's name. On top of that, her community service for the less fortunate third world countries made her, in every sense of the word, Providence's Golden Girl."

Rex couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as Bobo recounted the rest of Kenwyn's achievements, "So, I was right?"

"Hm?" Bobo arched his free eyebrow.

"I said she was out overachieving and she was." Rex held his breath as fat Bobo shifted his position on his stomach and the settled again. He will have to talk to the cafeteria about giving Bobo all those snacks throughout the day. He looked at his simian friend and cocked his head to one side, "How did you know all that anyways?"

Bobo then hopped off, ignoring Rex's gasp in relief, and ran over to his small drawer in the room. He pulled open the lowest one and flung a magazine from within it at Rex. It landed square on his face. After a curse, Rex lifted the magazine up and looked at it's cover, half shocked and half jealous of the face that Kenwyn was there in her providence armor and a gun on her hip. The headlining article of the magazine said, "Kenwyn: Woman or Machine?"

Rex gritted his teeth, "Um, you didn't think to show me this sooner?"

Bobo shrugged, "Didn't seem important. Are you guys close or something?"

"No! But," and he spoke the following without realizing how childish and egotistical it was, "I should be on the cover."

Another shrug came from Bobo, "I don't think you can pull off a Trooper suit like she can."

Rex threw the magazine across the room and went back to his lounging position. She did wear that suit well, he had to admit it.

"REX!" White's voice suddenly came from all sides of the room. Rex sat up so abruptly it made his head spin. A holo-screen popped up in the middle of his room and soon after the pale and displeased face of Commander White followed. He did not look happy, in fact, he never looked happy, but that did not diminish the feeling brewing in the pit of Rex's stomach. The man laced his meaty fingers together and stared at Rex, "What are you doing?"

Rex looked around his room and then back at the screen, "Knitting?"

"Very funny," White responded in typical worn down fashion, "Get down to the briefing room. Now!" and then the screen disappeared.

Bobo looked at him from across the room, "You can knit?"

Rex was down in the briefing room a lot sooner than he thought he would be. Usually there would be scores of bustling Providence employees bustling around the vast web of reinforced titanium hallways but today there was no one. It was a ghost town down every corridor. He assumed that maybe everyone was just busy one new projects and did not question, Providence had gotten several new EVO cases that were more than perplexing. There were no people in the cafeteria, no people in the lounge, goodness, Rex even checked the bathrooms and they were empty. He hoped he hadn't missed some kind of EVO breakout, White would have his ass for that. To his surprise, however, everyone either in the briefing room or on a large screen that looked into the briefing room. He immediately looked for Six upon entering and questioned the matter, "What's going on?"

Six peered through his black sunglasses and just shook his head, "Do you just refuse to read you briefing packets?"

Another screen appeared overhead next to the one showing all the providence soldiers huddled in one room, White's face graced it. The soldiers in the other briefing room must have also gotten a screen with White's mug inside of it because they all straighten up, chests out and chins up. Some of them even saluted.

The double doors behind Rex slid open, air rushed passed his ears and then a cacophony of voices hit him. He turned to see a mob of people in monkey suits, most of them carrying a notepad and a pen and others talking on cell phones. All of them wore sunglasses despite being inside Providence's florescent base. The chatter persisted, people started to spread out and from inside the tight nest of people in gray suits emerged Doctor Holiday, and next to her, Kenwyn.

She was all smiles, Kenwyn, as a man held a tape recorder in front of her face with a vice grip Rex had seen on no human before. She had her long, black hair down and lightly curled so that it bounced with every step. She wore strange garb for a meeting, a tight black tee on top of olive green shorts that, Rex could not help but notice, were very short. Kenwyn had come packing a lot of heat on her as well. Two guns hung from holsters on her cartridge carrying belt, attached by two other buckles down her toned thighs were two more guns, smaller than the two on her hips, held by thigh holsters. Attached to her boots were two smaller pockets that Rex suspected held knives. A bit much for a meeting.

Kenwyn caught sight of Rex and waved quickly before going back to her conversation with the man. Doctor Holiday saw him as well, and while Rex's first impulse was to run over to her and give her a classic dap, he noticed that she was shaking her head. He turned to meet Six's black lenses, "Just wait." The older man told him.

"So, how do you feel being back on US soil?" The man asked her, not even hiding his wondering eyes that seemed to be magnetically attracted to her chest.

Kenwyn smirked, visibly trying not to punch the man and flipped her hair, "It's great being back home. I had a lot of fun in France, Japan… everywhere but it was definitely time for me to get back to work." She stated. She turned to Rex again and began walking towards him. Rex looked around for answers but none were given and soon she was standing right next to him, "It's especially great that I now get to work side by side with the famous Generator Rex."

Rex flashed a thousand watt smile at the guy and with that all the people in suits seemed unanimously satisfied. The man reached out to shake her hand, never quite looking away from her chest and then thanked her for her time. The others followed suit out the briefing room doors and their collective murmur slowly died away as they traveled further and further down the hall outside.

A stillness took over the room after they left. No body moved and it seemed as though no body was breathing either. Rex wanted to look around to see if other people were still there but instead with his peripherals as far as he could. Six was still next to him. Doc Holiday had made her way to her green man of mystery and was holding his hand. Several Providence lab techs were in the room along with a commanding agents in black and white armor. On the opposite side of where Six was, stood Kenwyn, so close her hand was brushing against his leg.

"Well done, Kenwyn." White Knight broke the silence, "They are clear from the building and they seemed pleased with what you gave them."

Kenwyn gave a curt nod. She moved both of her hands to her hips and shifted her weight to one side, accentuating the dangerous curves her body already had. Rex also turned to the screen with White on it, folding his arms, "What's going on?" he asked, sounding like his old sixteen year old self instead of the adult he was trying to convince everyone he had become.

White ignored him and began to address the entire assembly of people, "Before we get into mission details, let us all take a moment to congratulate Kenwyn on her Commander status," an eruption of applause came from within the briefing room and from the adjacent room full of soldiers. Some had ripped their helmets off and began throwing them around as they flailed about. Rex stood speechless. Kenwyn was a Providence Commander. With great hate for himself, he had to admit that he was jealous. White cleared his throat, which silenced everyone in the room, and then proceeded with the briefing, "Doctor Holiday, please pull up the slides."

Wind licked Rex's ear as Doctor Holiday moved swiftly for the computer consol next to him. She pushed a few buttons and then three other screens appared in the room overhead. All of them had the same image of a spiky, luminescent blue rock the size of a small child's palm. It spun in a slow circle, rather, the slide was showing a panoramic view of the entire specimen. Random stats popped up on the screen from time to time and after a moment of sheer silence, White spoke up. "This small rock was found by some of our field agents while on a routine recon mission in South America. They picked up random temporal displacement readings, originally dismissed as equipment malfunctions," he said the last to words with a snarl, "and found a huge stone the approximate size of one the Eater Island stone heads. The natives called it the Roca de un Perdido."

Rex stifled a laugh, White's Spanish was horrible.

"This rock that you see on the screen is a sample of what they let us take with us after some tough negotiations. An elderly man, the tribe's chief shall we say, told us that his people have been around for centuries. We figured he meant that their tribe had history with the land but, he meant that literally, his people have been there for hundred of years," he paused, waiting for someone to say that they did not quite understand, "The Napoku people have not had a single death since the first few were born. They are plenty in number because they have births but no deaths."

"How is that even possible?" a Lab Tech, Rex knew him as Stick because he was so uptight.

"As stated before, this small stone has a property of temporal displacement unseen by any scientist around the world. The stone we chipped it off of, ONE HUNDRED times the power. The elder went on to tell us about the ceremonies they have to worship the stone. One in particular gave us out answer to their longevity." White paused as a new image of a radiometric reading of the stone popped up. It's levels changed more than anything's levels should have. "They call it 'La ceremonia de Entrega de la Nueva Vida,'"

"The Ceremony of New Life?" Rex and Kenwyn once again whispered in unison.

"_Will you stop that_!" Rex said loud enough for her to heard, smirk and then turn her attention back to White as though nothing happened.

"Every year," White started back up, "The tribe meets on the first full moon. One by one they come up, touch the stone and then wait for a moment. The stone will either make them old or make them young by random choosing."

There was a sharp intake of air somewhere in the back of the room. Shock had gotten them all.

White laced his fingers together and placed his square chin on top of his knuckles, "Holiday, the video, please."

"Sir," and she was back to typing on the consol. A new image popped up, one of an old, sun drenched and wrinkle old man. His hair was stark white compared to the rich brown of his skin. His lips were thin and his teeth were few in numbers. His cheek bones jutted out from beneath his deep set eyes that seemed to be looking everywhere and nowhere at once. There was an object clenched in the man's hand and after time and gruesome realization, Rex realized it was a skull. It looked like a baby skull. The vice grip he had on it was alarming and haunting; several people took steps back despite there being no threat present.

The man rocked back and forth, muttering something as he stared wide-eyed into the camera. "Nadie," he said in a voice brought on by years of smoking who knew what in the jungles of South America, "Nadie, Nadie, Nadie," he repeated.

Both Rex and Kenwyn whispered, "No one."

Rex just sighed and rolled his eyes.

The man suddenly rushed off screen and the feed cut to black. White's face was suddenly everywhere. "That man refused to say much more on camera but, he told our translators that he, like many others in that tribe, has experienced what the call a 'Lost Journey.' We talked to others and they say that they only saw a random snipet of time but this man, his name being Orato, claims the stone sent him into a future he did not want to know. At first we didn't believe him but he claimed that the skull he had was from the unborn child of one of the young females of the tribe. He swore on his own life that it was true, so we took the skull, ran genetics on what we could, as it was alarmingly fresh, and found that the skull and the young lady share similar genetics."

A hush fell over the room that was as stifling as it was nerve-racking. Rex was the only one to verbalize what everyone was thinking, "So what do you want us to do about it?"

White sighed and closed his eyes as though the answer couldn not have been more obvious, "Keep Van Kleiss from possessing it."

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><p><strong>BA BA BUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!<strong>

**Read and Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys, sorry for the delay. There was a very large debaucle over one of my stories. Someone had plagerized most of it and when I confronted them, they denied it despite evidence being quite the contrary. Long story short, I finally had their "version" removed but, it left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm back now, but people... don't do that.**

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><p>"Van Kleiss was last spotted in a small city twenty miles north of the Amazon Rain Forest," Six stated flatly as he sat in his seat, strapped in by the cross-way seatbelt yet extremely relaxed. As always. He had one of his swords in his lap and was fingering it with a gentleness he afforded to nothing else.<p>

Across from Six and his sword sat Kenwyn. In her lap was a small laptop on which she was tip-tapping away. Her dark brown eyes could be seen darting back and forth across the screen reading who-knew-what. They had only a few minutes to get whatever they needed before departing for South America and she had chosen to grab several gadgets and a small backpack with a change of clothes and a things she found useful in a survival situation. She looked up only to show Six that she was following his train of information. "Has he been made aware of the stone?" she asked her team leader.

"Unknown," Six held his sword up in the florescent lighting and watched as it shown, "Be we have to assume that is why he is so close by. Otherwise we may have an entirely different issue to deal with later."

The two then drifted into silence for a few moments, the engines of the providence transport ship and Kenwyn's furious typing were the only sounds to be heard. Six then cleared his throat, "So, Commander status, huh? So, who is the leader of this mission exactly?"

Kenwyn quickly looked up and physically faulter before answering, "Uh," and then she noticed the wry smile on Six's face, "Sir, did you develop a sense of humor while I was gone?"

Six didn't laugh but he seemed to at least internally chuckle at the girl's words. Elegantly he crossed one leg over the other and then laced his fingers together in his lap, "It is very impressive, the status you have achieved to young. I would not have an issue letting you call the shots."

Kenwyn did laugh, "Sir, this is a very sensitive mission and quite frankly, and I trust you not to tell Rex this," she paused to give him a serious look before continuing, "I feel more of a rookie now than I did before." She closed her laptop slowly and took a deep breath, flicking a stray strand of hair from her face and slicking back with the rest of her high ponytail, "I wouldn't want to mess it up."

"Then, until you are ready, you are second in command." He told her.

The unmistakable sound of the hatch bay doors opening and closing filled the ship and then, seconds later, the secondary doors opened, Rex strolling through them. He pulled his goggles off his face and placed them on their usual spot atop his head of spiky black hair. "Next time," he started as he patted down his hair, "One of you can go outside, fly by the ship and make sure we're not followed."

He took a seat next to Six and buckled himself in angrily, making a conscious effort to do it all with extra force than necessary. A few minutes after take off the providence agent who was piloting the ship said he was getting a weird blip on the screen. I could have been anything really, a lost bird, a wayward jet but, they couldn't be too careful so, they sent Rex to monitor the outside. The blip had disappeared within minutes of him leaving the main bay but no one thought to call him back in. It was quieter without him.

Rex looked at Kenwyn and scrunched up his face, "More overachieving?" he directed at her.

Kenwyn did not even bother to look up, "No."

Rex frowned. Her short and uninformative answer had caused a spike in anger, "Then what are you doing? Checking your facebook?"

"No."

Rex sulked in silence for the next hour and a half to their destination. On the way to the hanger, several providence grunts had come up to him and asked him what it feels like to have the honor of working with Commander Kenwyn. She was so great, so awesome, so hot, blah blah blah… if he heard anymore about how wonderful she was, Rex swore he would puke. Seriously, he wondered, how he had let so much slip by without him noticing? Unfortunately he was jealous of her. Yes, everyone knew his name but it was because he was a living machine E.V.O who, on more than one occasion, has destroyed buildings, raised havoc and wreck peoples' days. But he had always saved the day when in a pinch, always. How many missions has Kenwyn even been on, he asked himself as he mentally compared himself to her.

Every now and again he would look up at Kenwyn and scan her over. She looked so different, yet he could not put his finger on it. Haircut? No, her hair was longer now than it was before, noticeably longer. Her eyes were still the same brown, skin still had the same golden tint to its earth tone. There was a scar on her left elbow, slightly raised and paler than the skin around it, but that was not had him so off guard. It was the aura of simple calm about her. He remembered Kenwyn from before, so goal driven it bordered on neurotic, but, now she seemed so at ease. That made Rex cringe.

Finally Kenwyn shut her laptop with a loud clap and unbuckled herself from her seat. She pulled on a small black jacket, if you could call it that, with its thin fabric, short sleeves, short body and two breast pockets. It looked more like a shirt than a jacket. Then, Rex wondered as he watched her go towards the cabinet with her duffle bag in it, why is she even wearing a jacket at that moment? The temperature on the ground is ninety-five degrees and only going to get higher before nightfall

Six then stood up, saying not a word as he too went to the cabinet, maneuvering around Kenwyn to get to his one bag of mystery. Rex watched as Commander Kenwyn began to check over the many weapons attached to her hips and legs, meticulously tugging on straps and tightening anything that happened to be loose. She even swirled her long ponytail into a bun. She then moved to the front of the ship where the pilot was sitting and sat in the seat beside him. All Rex could see was her slender hand flailing around from the side, they were too far away to eavesdrop on.

"You better get ready for the drop." Six startled him.

"What?"

Six then turned around, shouldering an olive green pack and then dropping his duffle next to his foot, "We're dropping in twenty miles from the village where the stone is," he then looked at his watch, "We make contact with the village scouts tomorrow morning so, we need to hike in for about ten miles and then set up an extensive camp tonight. No time to be lazy." He said the last part in a wry way, a smirk on his lips.

Rex was suddenly flashed back to his teenage self again and with a scoff and a grunt he stood up and grabbed his cell phone—that's all he brought with him. Unfortunately no one informed him that they were leaving right after the briefing so, he did not pack anything other than the clothes on his back and the cell phone in his pocket. He silently cursed everyone for not properly informing him and then himself for choosing not to listen if they did.

"Alright," Kenwyn came back towards them, "Six, you drop south of the village, that's where Van Kleiss was last seen. If anyone is going to easily stand up to him and hold him off, it's you." She patted him on the shoulder getting a smirk from him in return. As Six set off towards the drop bay she addressed Rex, "You and I are going to drop in on the east side. I can't afford Kleiss getting the drop on you and turning your nanites off again so we're teaming up."

"I can take care of myself," Rex flared up, "I'm a big boy now."

Kenwyn gave a wry smile, "I can see that," she stated, grabbing him by the elbow and hoisting him up so that he stood over her, "But my statement stands. I believe that rock is reacting to the nanites the people of the village may have absorbed. If that's the case then you are integral to this whole mission working out."

Rex looked down at her and was once again taken in by how much she had both changed and remained the same. He couldn't help but notice another scar, over her right eyebrow, that was so cleanly etched into her skin that he wondered what did it. What had she been up to for so long?

A burst of sound flooded the cabin of the plane. Six must have dropped. Rex rushed to the window and watched as a green figure fell from the plane. Six already had his swords poised for anything that may come at him once he fell through the clouds. Once he had disappeared, Kenwyn yanked him away from the window and pulled him towards the drop area. She yelled to the pilot when they were standing over the proper zone, "Hey, Tony!"

The pilot spoke over the intercom, "Yes, Commander Jones?"

"Looking forward to that cup of coffee once this mission is over."

"Agreed, Commander!"

Just as Rex opened his mouth to say something snarky, the floor opened up and the air was sucked out of his lungs. The rush of strangely warm air washed over him and he let the sensation of free falling take over. The plane slowly went out of view and above him, Kenwyn looked like an angel. Her hair flailed around her as she did some flips and then straightened out. She tugged on a mask, similar to the one on her providence suit and then straighten her body out, passing Rex and into the cloud bank. He followed suit.

Once out of the disorienting cloud bank he saw a black parachute, identifying here his partner was. He could afford a few hundred more feet before he had to think about activating his fly mode.

Minutes later they were on the ground. Kenwyn had had liltfully hopped from branch to branch before landing on the rich soil with little to no sound whatsoever. Rex, with the giant fans on his back, made a fair bit more noise before finally getting through the thick canopy and falling to the ground with a thud. Kenwyn offered her hand to help him up but he dismissed it. Once up, Rex looked around a gave a whistle, "This place is pretty awesome," he stated while fanning himself, "Humid, but awesome."

Kenwyn was already walking away from him by the time he finished taking things in. He rushed to catch up.

* * *

><p><strong>Short Chappie but... meh.<strong>

**READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!**


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